Shelter Island restaurants, hotels gather for life-saving training

On Monday, June 26, about 30 staff members of several Island hotels and restaurants spent 45 minutes in the meeting room at the Center Firehouse learning about naloxone  — brand name, Narcan — and how to administer it in the event that a patron or employee suffers an opioid overdose. 

The need for such training should come as no surprise to residents of the North Fork and Shelter Island who, for several years now, have been hearing news of the nationwide opioid epidemic and the terrible wages it has wrought throughout the East End.

In August 2021, six residents of Southold, Greenport and Shelter Island died of overdoses within a week, including Pridwin chef Swainson Brown. Police have connected the deaths to cocaine laced with the highly toxic drug fentanyl.

Earlier this year, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, the Greenport Village Business Improvement District, Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. and Community Action for Social Justice have joined forces to install Narcan rescue stations in various North Fork establishments.

Monday’s program was part of a proposal originally submitted by Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams for funding in the first phase of the release of the so-called “Opioid Settlement” dollars in Suffolk County, and later followed through by Shelter Island’s Town Social Worker Alexandra Hakim.

New York Attorney General Letitia James reached settlements totaling over $2.6 billion with companies involved in manufacturing, distributing, and selling opioids. Ms. Hakim said she’d been working with the Shelter Island Police Department since January to find ways to address the opioid epidemic and its effects on Shelter Island. 

“We thought one idea might be to offer Narcan training to the local restaurants,” Ms. Hakim said. 

She made contact with Hugs Inc., a New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports licensed agency, which offered to arrange the free Narcan training on Shelter Island. Jackie Kanarvogel, from Hugs, introduced Ms. Hakim to Sam Morales of the East End THRIVE Recovery Center, which is part of the nonprofit Family and Children’s Association. Ms. Morales, an experienced Narcan trainer, delivered the training and distributed Narcan to attendees. 

At the beginning of Monday’s training, Ms. Morales told the audience that if they paid close attention, they “could save a life.” Ms. Morales noted that she has had first-hand experience. “Over three years ago, Narcan saved my life,” she said. Several drugs are “opioids,” she said, including  heroin, oxycontin, Percocet, Methadone and fentanyl among them, and went on to say that, “Narcan reduces the overdose, usually acting within minutes and giving you a 30-to-90-minute window to get the person safely to the hospital.”

Ms. Morales cautioned that, “The person who goes from being high as a kite to nodding out, when they wake up, will have gone into withdrawal and can be very combative. I tell everyone that when someone has been ‘Narcan-ed,’ make sure you have called 911 — even when the person wakes up and assures you that they’re ‘fine, just fine.’ Get the person to the hospital because, remember, Narcan only works for 30 to 90 minutes and, depending on how much the person has taken, after the Narcan wears off they could revert to overdosing again.”

According to Ms. Morales, because of the very real possibility of the patient reverting to the overdose, the protocols in most hospitals involve administering a Narcan drip for 12 hours, something that the most well-intentioned initial responders cannot provide.

She listed some of the symptoms of an opioid overdose, which include dilated pupils, unresponsiveness, loss of mobility, shallow breathing, gurgling and blueish coloration of the lips and/or nail beds, and added that, when in doubt, give a possibly overdosing person the Narcan anyway — it will not cause harm, and better safe than sorry.

“Unlike back-in-the-day, when first responders administered Narcan in a vial with a syringe,” the actual administration of today’s Narcan is fairly simple because it comes in the form of a nasal spray, Ms. Morales said. Further instruction is that if all regular efforts have failed to awaken the overdose victim, the person should be laid on their back, while the responder presses the plunger of the spray up, inserts it into the person’s nostril and pushes the plunger forward. 

“Of course,” she reminded her audience, “you will have already called 911 and an ambulance is on its way.”

The audience of restaurant and hotel staffers seemed to appreciate the vital information, as well as the Narcan kits with instructions that were distributed free-of-charge. All agreed that patrons of Island establishments should be made aware that Narcan is available in the event of a suspected overdose, much like the posted instructions regarding choking hazards that restaurants and hotels already provide.